GroupWise
Document Management: Storing Documents

This is the second in a series of
articles on the topic of GroupWise Document Management.
This article does not deal specifically with the
GroupWise Macintosh Client, which will be covered at a
later date.

Storing Documents by Using the
"Create New Document" Tool Bar Button

Basically, there are three different ways
to deposit a document into the DMS library. The first is
to use the "Create New Document" dialog from
within the client. The second is to use the import
function, and third is to merely drag and drop the
document into a folder of choice. Let's first look at
using the "Create New Document" dialog. This is
done by clicking on the "Create New Document"
button on the tool bar in the client as demonstrated
below.

(Note:
In the picture below, the Mailbox is highlighted. When
the document reference is created for the document that
is being added to the library, it will be placed in the
Mailbox. The document reference will be placed in the
current active GroupWise folder. So, make sure that you
highlight the folder you want the document reference to
be put into prior to clicking on the "Create New
Document" button.)

After clicking on the "Create New
Document" button, the following dialog box will
appear. At this point you have the options "Select
an Application", "Select a GroupWise
template", or "Select a file". In this
case, you will choose "Select a file". After
choosing "Select a file", the "Enter
filename:" window will appear so you can type in the
path to the file you want to add, or use the browse
button to the right. At the bottom of the window, you'll
notice another window where you can specify which library
you want to deposit the document into, the default is
shown. The default library can be set to which ever
library you choose. When you have entered the file path
and chosen the correct library, click OK.
Next.....

The next dialog box to appear requires
that you enter a document subject for your document. This
subject needs to be something short but descriptive, so
you can recognize it. The document will still get
deposited in the library if you don't put in a subject,
but by default the only information you will see
displayed will be the creator's name, which will be
yours. It's best to use a good subject name. As you can
see, you have the option to open the document now if you
want to make some changes or read it now, but for
demonstration purposes I'm leaving it blank. With all
documents, there are access rights to be set, so click on
the "Properties" button at the bottom right.
Next.....

In the document properties window, click
on the "Sharing" tab and then select
"Shared with". In the "Name" window,
enter the name of the GroupWise user who you want to have
rights to this document. As you can see in the
"Share list:", if you don't add anyone else to
the list, the only user that will be able to view the
document will be you. Other users will be able to see the
document reference in their client, but they will not be
able to open the document or even view it in the
GroupWise viewer. After entering the users and assigning
the rights you want them to have, click on
"OK".

After you have clicked on "OK",
the document will be deposited into the library and a
document reference will be placed in the currently active
GroupWise folder. (See note at the beginning of this
section)

Importing Documents With Quick
Import

The second way to deposit documents into
the library is to use the Import feature. There are two
versions of this feature currently in use at the
University of North Texas. The 5.2.4 and 5.5.2.1 clients
have different versions of the Import feature. The 5.2.4
version can only import individual files, whereas the
5.5.2.1 version has the ability to import entire folders
and all of their contents. (To learn what version of the
client you are using, from the main GroupWise window,
click on "Help" and select "About
GroupWise" and look under the picture to see the
version.) For our purposes we will look at the 5.5.2.1
version of the client. The 5.2.4 version works the same
way it's just limited to importing individual files. The
first step is to click on "File" and choose
"Import Documents".

When you click on "Import
Documents", the "Select Files to Import"
dialog box appears. As you can see, you have the option
of choosing individual files or whole directories. (Note: In the 5.2.4
client, you would only have the option of choosing
individual files) Click on
the "Add Individual Files" button and find the
file you want to add and click "OK", and the
file path will appear in the "Files to import"
window. By default, the "Quick import" box is
checked, and is normally what you would want to use. The
"Quick import" will put the document into your
default library and put a document reference in the
currently active GroupWise folder. By default, the
subject for the document will be the file name. For
instance, in the picture, the subject would be
"DMSmanual.doc". If you choose to use
"Quick import", the next step is to click on
the "Next" button.

The "Create Document
References" dialog box allows you to choose what
folder you want the document reference to be placed in,
or to not have a document reference placed in any folder.
The default is to create a document reference and is a
good idea, since without one you will have to do a search
to find the document and then manually create a
reference.

By default, the "Cabinet" is
selected, so in this case I chose "Mailbox" as
where I want the document reference to be placed. You can
only choose one location when you're importing files, but
later, if you need to, you can place document references
for the same document in multiple folders. (Using multiple document references for a
single document can be confusing, so I wouldn't recommend
doing that until you have a firm understanding of what
document references are in relation to the actual
document.) After choosing
the folder you want, click on the "Next" button
to continue.

If you are satisfied with the choices you
made in the previous dialog boxes, go ahead and click on
the "Finish" button and the document will begin
importing. In the picture below, I have already chosen to
finish, and the "Import progress" bar is
showing the progress of the import. When the progress bar
reaches 100% as it is in the picture, the dialog box will
disappear and you will be back at the GroupWise client
main window. There will be a document reference of the
imported document in the folder you chose.

Import Without Using Quick Import

The other route is to uncheck the
"Quick Import" option. This option is used to
customize the document properties on an individual
document basis or on a mass basis. If you are adding
documents that will need greatly differing property
values, you would need to use this method. As in the
first example, you'll need to choose the document path
using the "Add Individual Files" button, and
then click on the "Next" button.

In the "Import Method" dialog
box, you are given the choice of merely copying the files
or moving them. If you copy the file, a duplicate will be
created and added to the library leaving the original
where it is. If you move the file, you will be changing
the location of the original file. In other words, no
duplicate will be made. Also, if you want to have
GroupWise generate a log file detailing all of the
operations that are about to take place, you can put a
check in the check box and point to the directory you
want the file to reside in. Click "Next" to
continue.

In the next window, you need to choose
which library you want the document to go in. As a
reminder, you will only be able to add documents to
libraries in which you have add rights. Click
"Next" to continue.

The next window should look familiar
since it is the same as the one used when using the
"Quick Import". This time, however, the option
to import without displaying the documents in a folder is
the default, so remember to change it if you want a
document reference to be in your client. Click
"Next" to continue.

"Set Document Property Options"
is what makes the non "Quick Import"
importation of documents such a convenience. In the case
where you may have 25 documents to import, but you need
to assign different rights to each one, selecting
"Prompt for properties of each document
individually" is the best choice. Doing this will
cause GroupWise to prompt you to modify document
properties as the documents are being imported. If all of
the documents you are importing will have uniform
properties but you need to change them from the default,
then you need to choose "Set properties using
default values" and then click on the "Modify
Default Values..." button to change the values to
whatever you need them to be. The last check box is
checked by default, and if you don't mind having the
subject field of your document being the original file
name, then you can leave it checked. Otherwise, take the
check out and the subject field for each document will be
blank unless you specified a default subject name in the
"Modify Default Values" dialog box. Click the
"Next" button to continue.

If you are satisfied with your choices,
go ahead and click the "Finish" button to
commence with the import. While the import is taking
place, if you chose "Prompt for properties of each
document individually", the "Document
subject" box will pop up for you (see below) to edit
each document's properties as they are being imported.
When the import is finished, you will be back at the
GroupWise client main window.

The Drag and Drop Method

The last method of depositing a document
into a library is to drag and drop it into the desired
folder. The way you do this is exactly how it sounds.
Locate the file you want to add to the library and drag
it to one of the GroupWise folders in the client and drop
it in. An import progress window will come up and remain
until the process is complete. Then, a document reference
will be visible in the folder you dropped the document
into, and you are done.

More Information

Stay tuned for more neat GroupWise Document Management
features next time. If you want to do some reading in the
meantime, check out the topic of "Document
Management" in the Novell GroupWise Cool Solutions vault.